Hopefully he's better than Amritpal Singh.

IMO unlike Baba who was a role player I think Zhou Qi will probably dominate.

He was the best centre in the Chinese league and played a couple of years in the NBA too. He's only signed here as a stepping stone to try and get back into the NBA. I would be very surprised if he doesn't dominate.

I expect he will need to adjust to the physicality for the first 5-6 games but after that look out. There is no centre in the NBL in his league he will have a field day offensively and defensively he'll trouble most too, too tall and long for the centres here.

CBA may not be the NBL, but they pay a lot more for imports than the NBL.

https://www.josecolorado.com/blog/Chinese-basketball-association-salary

Not to mention that they are one of the most or the most physical league in Asia. Zhou played well in the CBA against Ex NBA players and did good in the G League.

CBA (19-20) with imports stats

22.2 pts, 13.3 rebounds, 2.3 Blocks, 33 mins per game

G league (18-19)

12 pts, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 Blocks, 27 mins per game

FIBA OQT stats against Greece and Canada

13.5 pts, 8.5 rebounds, 1 block. 19.1 mins per game

I think his impact will be way greater than Baba's. Could see him average 15 and 10 in the NBL at least.

@242,243

There's a reason why Big Liu and Princepal are signed as DPs, unlike Zhou and Kai. Princepal hardly had an impact in the FIBA ACQ against Bahrain, Iraq and Lebanon, while Big Liu played limited minutes in the ACQ and had a DNP in the OQT as well. While Kai may not have as many minutes to Zhou, he should have more minutes than Big Liu and Princepal. I hope all 4 SRP players will do well in their respective teams.

Princepal ACQ stats

4.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 0.5 blocks, 15.7 mins

Big Liu ACQ-OQT stats

5.3 points, 3 rebounds, 0 blocks, 5.5 mins in ACQ

3 points, 0 rebound, 0 block, 2 mins against Canada

Kai ACQ-OQT stats

9.3 points, 7 rebounds, 0.3 blocks, 18.9 mins in ACQ

9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.5 blocks. 19.6 mins in OQT

Zhou ACQ-OQT stats

18 pts, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 22 mins against Japan (His only game in ACQ)

13.5 pts, 8.5 rebounds, 1 block. 19.1 mins per game

Could see him average 15 and 10 in the NBL at least.

I could see Zhou Qi averaging 18-20 ppg and 11-12 rpg. 18 & 11 sounds about right to me he's got quite a height and length advantage over NBL centres.

A big factor in how he goes might be in what SEM do with Mitch Creek. Creek the star player on the team in the final year of his contract with all his off-court problems, I suspect SEM might start nudging him towards the door perhaps even bringing him off the bench at some point, which would free up things for Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi signed a 2 year deal but from all sides it sounds like it's really only going to be a one year pairing. So this season may be a bit of a transitional season for SEM.

If Zhou Qi averages 20pts and 12rebs he will easily win NBL MVP. Bogut won the MVP in 2019 averaging 11.6pts, 11.6rebs 3.5ast, 2.7blks. Jock Landale averaged 16pts and 8rebs last year and many considered him the frontrunner for MVP. I really don't see Zhou Qi getting those numbers and don't consider him a favourite for the MVP. His numbers in China won't be replicated in the NBL.

Zhou Qi is in the prime of his career comparing him to a washed up Bogut is pretty unfair on him. Keep in mind too Bogut was very fortunate to win the MVP that year it was basically a PR move, most considered Casper Ware the real MVP that season.

Landale who wasn't anywhere near as credentialed as Zhou Qi when he signed with United played on a stacked United team where he often played significantly reduced minutes as the goal was always to have him there champing at the bit for their playoff campaign. Landale could've quite easily averaged 20 & 10 last season on a bad team.

Zhou Qi is only here for one reason and that's to get back into the NBA. He will be going all out to try and make that happen and I suspect SEM will be going through a transitional season where they may be phasing Creek out to eventually build the team around Broekhoff from their Frankston heartland.

Unlike with Landale there should be plenty of opportunity for Zhou Qi to have big games. He's 7-1/7-2 meaning he has a significant height advantage over most NBL centres and quite long for a guy that size too. I would be surprised if he averages less than 18 & 11 on that SEM team.

Zodiac you gotta be Chinese. You are so bias for Zhou Qi.

Conner Henry wasn't Chinese.

Qi wont replicate him CBA numbers here but I think we would be overrating our league if we think he wont be one of the best, if not the best, centers in this league.

As for Singh being a marketing signing, probably is. But he's considered India's best-ever NBA prospect (yeah I know, not a hard bar to jump) and he's not without some upside. There would certainly be Australian and Kiwi DPs in the league worse than this guy. Id take a foreign kid with some upside and opportunity of some eyeballs over an Aussie kid, gearing up to be the next Brendan Teys, with no real upside for the league. I know we prize developing Aussies, and that's great, but if we're developing some of them to turn out to be pretty uninspiring ball players I think we have some spots for some other options.

Terry Li now plays for the Shanghai Sharks anon.

G League stats generally translate well to the NBL, especially if the player isnt coming in carrying injuries or old and washed.

Qi is 25 years old, and averaged 12p 9r 2blk in the G League 2 years ago, so i expect he could average around that in the NBL which would make him one of the best bigs in the NBL.

As a comparrison, Humphries averaged 11p 7r 1blk in the same G league season, and was one of the best NBL bigs last season averaging 13p, 7r, 2blk

But yes the other Asian signings seem to be more marketing based, and am not expecting much from them on the court.

Terry Li has played 10 games for Shanghai and is averaging 12.7 ppg. Keep any tweets from Santa in context, he works for the NBL and it's his job to make the NBL look fantastic at all times especially when they're trying to build hype on the eve of a new season.